Four Generations

In this photo is, Gregory Charles, Charles Rowland, Addison Craig and Roland Craig Rumbaugh. (or my brother, dad, grandfather and great grandfather.)
I love this picture of the four generations in the oil field. Greg was about 18 months old and my Great Grandfather was I'm guessing 80ish. The Rumbaugh's came from a long line of oil business men of one sort or another. My Great Grandfathers, father built wooden oil rigs in Pennsylvania. As the oil played out there, he and his brothers moved their families to Louisiana and from there to Longview and from there, Odessa. They followed the oil booms. The story goes that my Great Grandfather invented a method to move a rig on tank tracks later to be called "skidding the rig". But that is a family story and I don't know how true it is. If it is true, there is no patent on it which is really too bad!!
Their business was trucking in West Texas and moving rigs from one location to another and yep, skidding the rig! My Grandfather Rumbaugh used to sport a coke bottle on his desk with a tiny bit of oil in it. He said it was the only oil he ever got out of the ground trying to hit the big one. So even though, the family wasn't oil tycoons in the industry, they made a contribution and it was a good business for them until it played out in the early 60's.
NOTE: My Aunt Betty emailed me that the family story is different than I have been told. Here is her info on it...
Roland Craig Rumbaugh ( Great Grandfather) invented the oil well elephant pump (as Aunt Betty called it) It is on all the wells pumping in Texas. Gulf oil founders stole it from him when he took the model to them in Shreveport. His family was at the first dilling of a well l in tx.